Guilt
by AlphaGamma
Summary: What if the Princess' actions in The Cooler were far less inconsequential than they were made out to be... Slight AU, Finn gets back together with Flame Princess about a month and a half before the story takes place.


Finn awoke to a massive shake.

"Jake, did you feel that? Is that an earthquake?" he exclaimed.

He didn't get a chance to hear an answer, as a massive plank fell from the ceiling.

Finn awoke to a voice, feeling like his head had been pulverized.

"Hello?" It said, "Finn?"

"Wha…?" He said drowsily, "Wildberry Princess?"

"Yeah, It's me.", she said.

"What happened?" he said, noticing the generally wrecked state of the treehouse.

"Last night, a series of massive earthquakes wrecked half of Ooo. Princess Bubblegum thinks it's because the magma is beginning to cool… something about escaping radiation… I don't know. The remaining kingdoms have organized into search parties. Mine was in this area. ", she explained.

"Oh… where are Jake and BMO?" Finn asked, worried.

"They're fine. We found them under some piles of treasure, but we pulled them out. They're still asleep." said Wildberry. "You should do something about all that gold…" she said, trailing off.

"Wait, what did you mean, remaining kingdoms?" Finn asked.

"Well… we weren't able to contact the Flame or Slime kingdoms. There's a massive chasm around the Flame Kingdom, and the entrance to the Slime Kingdom seems to have collapsed." she said.

Wildberry Princess thought she saw a terrible look on Finn's face, but it vanished the moment she noticed it.

"There's going to be an emergency meeting in an hour or two in the Royal Congressional Hall. You're welcome to come, if you like."

"Sure… I'll… be there." said Finn, with a slightly dazed look on his face.

After Wildberry left, Finn got up, stretching. The tree itself wasn't that badly damaged, he thought, though the house was pretty torn up, planks missing or cracked all over, furniture in disarray. He looked around for Jake. Finding him on the couch in the living room, which had, surprisingly, not fallen over, he shook him awake. Jake mumbled drowsily, before screaming "Oh my glob!"

He then said "Finn, I had this crazy dream! There was an earthquake, and the floor broke under me and…" Before he could finish his sentence, Finn interrupted him.

"You… may want to open your eyes."

"What?" Jake said, opening his eyes.

"Oh…" he said. "That wasn't a dream, was it?"

Finn shook his head no.

"So what happened?" Jake asked.

Finn explained what Wildberry had told him, leaving out the part about not being able to contact the other kingdoms. "Wait, what had she meant by 'remaining kingdoms'?", Jake asked, raising an eyebrow. "Erm… she said that they couldn't contact the Slime or Flame kingdoms." Finn said shakily. "Are you okay, man?" Jake asked. "Yeah, Fine! Why?" Finn said. "Never mind, we'd better get ready for that meeting." Jake said. The morning went on fairly uneventfully, save for a call from Lady Rainicorn to Jake, assuring him she was fine, and that she may be present at the meeting.

-LATER-

Most of Ooo's royalty showed up, as well as a few others, all dressed in formal attire. After most of the commotion died down, the first speaker stepped up, Breakfast Princess. She began to describe what had occurred over the night, and went on for many minutes about the state of the kingdoms and several aid efforts to the most damaged. Secondly, Princess Wildberry stepped up to talk about the state of the Slime and Flame kingdoms. She said that while the Slime Kingdom is still inaccessible from the outside, some of their scouts had made it out and confirmed that while some of their caverns had collapsed, the kingdom is mostly intact, and the royal family had not been harmed in the quakes. As for the Flame Kingdom, she revealed that the ground around it was already unstable and the quakes had caused it to collapse. To make matters worse, several of the surrounding rivers, flowing from the mountains in the Ice Kingdom had widened and fallen into the new chasm, dousing the area. While, she said, they had found several flame elementals around Ooo, they were only the ones that were not present in the kingdom at the time of the earthquakes. Since none of the kingdoms had been able to enter the area since the quakes, it was not known who had survived, if anyone had. This caused much commotion and worry in the room, from both the possibility of a major loss of life, and a major political shift in the land. Finally, Princess Bubblegum came up to the podium. She explained that the earthquakes were likely a result of the detonation of the mushroom bomb over a thousand years earlier. The damage it had caused to the planet was causing the core and crust to cool, resulting in them becoming unstable until the planet became a sphere again and its temperature stabilized. She explained that only now was the cooling beginning to cause large quakes, but it had been causing smaller ones for centuries. To the room's dismay, she said she had no idea how to stop the effects, if it was even possible. While the murmurs of mixed terror and planning spread throughout the room, some noticed something was off about the speech, as it wasn't like her to simply say she had no idea about something, without a theory or something to reassure the people, as well as she was missing some of her usual confidence. While a few discussions of this cropped up, it was brushed off, as almost everyone in Ooo was rather shaken by the events. Just before the next and final speaker was to come up, a shaking began in the room. As the walls and ceiling began to give way, Finn and Jake sprang into action, with Jake doing his best to keep the roof from collapsing while Finn ushered the guests out of the room. Luckily, there was just enough time for everyone to escape the hall before it began to completely fall apart. However, the tremors did not stop for several more hours. While they were not as intense as before, the group traveled to the Breakfast Kingdom to take refuse there until they subsided. After they did, most of the group dispersed back to their homes and kingdoms, before agreeing to all meet again the next day in the Breakfast Kingdom. As Finn and Jake walked home, Jake noticed Finn was very quiet all the way, but decided to wait to bring it up until they reached the treehouse. However, when they did, it was quite late, and Jake was much too tired to remember to ask Finn.

-THE NEXT DAY-

While there were no tremors over the night and both Finn and Jake were exhausted, only one of them slept peacefully. While both feel asleep almost immediately, Finn was plagued by dreams of worry, sadness, and nostalgia. This led to him waking up rather late, especially for him. He did not remember his dreams clearly in the morning, however. He awoke to Jake telling him to get up; saying that the meeting was in two hours.

When Finn was awake enough to respond, Jake said "You look exhausted. I take it you didn't sleep well last night."

Finn responded "No, I didn't but I simply can't put my finger on why. I don't remember anything specific…"

Jake said "I bet you were dreaming about something bad. That always leaves me without a good night's sleep."

Finn said "You're probably right. I can't remember what I was dreaming about… though I can guess…"

At this, Jake said "Alright, I'm done beating around the bush. You're acting weird, man. What's going on?"

"It's just… I'm worried about Flame Princess.", Finn said.

"Oh my Grod!" said Jake, "And you were just making a comeback with her… I… I mean she's probably fine, right?"

Finn sulked.

"Hey, we'd better get ready for the meeting—again." said Jake, quickly changing the topic. "So you wipe that frown off your face and get dressed, bro."

At first, the second meeting proceeded similarly to the first, with the same topic being brought up, just with updated statuses. The only speakers this time were Breakfast, Wildberry, and the Duke of Nuts to talk about a plan to minimize damage the next time the tremors stopped. However, when the end of the meeting was just drawing close, a representative from the Slime Kingdom burst in, explaining that the entrance to his kingdom had finally been cleared, and that they wanted someone to lead an expedition into the Flame Kingdom, as a across the chasm had recently been found by the Candy Kingdom, and the two kingdoms were collaborating. He lay out some details, and invited anyone who was experienced and wanted to come to do so. Finn volunteered to lead, and there was very little contest, after all, he was the 'Hero of Ooo'. The expedition was to be the next day, and it could last for several. After eating some refreshments the meeting ended without incident. The tremors, however, did return later that afternoon, dealing more minor damage to the kingdoms. That evening, back at the treehouse Finn and Jake packed some supplies for the trip including weapons, tools, and some other miscellaneous things, before going to sleep. That night, Finn dreamt over and over different outcomes of the search, or his search at any rate, since while he cared for life in general; part of his eagerness to lead the expedition was rather obviously to try to find Flame Princess. Sometimes they'd find her dead, sometimes alive and inexplicably angry, sometimes she'd hug him, and sometimes they wouldn't find her at all. These outcomes and variations thereof played over and over in his head as if he was subconsciously trying to understand every possible detail and outcome that could be ahead of him. He tossed and turned all night, even managing to wake Jake once or twice. The next day, he woke up strangely early, as he had not slept well at all. Regardless, he got ready for the expedition, and as soon as all the others had shown up, and some of the remaining Fire Elementals had cast a rudimentary Flame Shield on them, they set off. The distance from the treehouse itself, to the borders of the Flame Kingdom was fairly long. Up until that point, not everyone had grasped the effect the tremors had had on the land, but it was laid obvious by the destruction they could see around them, from collapsed shacks to entire rock formations that had fallen apart. Just past noon, they began to come close to the Flame Kingdom. An eerie silence fell upon the group, as they came closer. The terrain became harder to navigate, as ravines and cracks spread through the earth, sometimes filled with water, but often filled with magma. Just as the heated rock spires of the Burning Lands came into view, the destruction became the most obvious, for many of the spires had collapsed and shattered on the ground, changing the general theme of the quest from walking through plains to climbing and crawling in sweltering heat. Nevertheless, the group made it across the chasm on a set of large rocks that had collapsed upon it. From there, the group decided to split up and search different sections of the ruined area, to find an entrance to the kingdom below. For the most part, nothing was found, however, in the areas where water had leaked in, there were occasionally dead Fire Elementals. Oddly enough, only two living elementals were found, trapped under rocks. The group speculated that if any were left aboveground when the quakes hit, they would have escaped or died, however it was still very disconcerting. Several caves were found, and the groups met up at each to see if they led down, but they all dead-ended long before they reached the kingdom. The parties began to lose hope, and decided to meet up. However, when the last party reached the meeting place, at nightfall, they said they had found a cave that went much deeper. Excited to have found anything at all, the group decided that they'd explore it, and if they didn't find anything they'd turn back. The entrance to the cave was in a clearing surrounded by several walls of rock, obscuring it. Water had poured in through one, forming a steamy pond. The bodies of several Fire Elementals were in the adjacent area. Finn shivered when looking at them, worried. The group entered the cave, which spiraled down for quite a distance. Eventually, at the bottom a wall of collapsed bedrock was found, much too heavy to move. However, according to their measurements they were very near to one of the kingdom's primary caverns, and the bedrock blockage was small enough to be blasted through if necessary. Normally, Jake would have simply smashed it, but the heat made it hard for him to focus, and the cave was quite unstable, and probably could not take his weight if he were to shapeshift large enough. However, they did not have enough explosives to break it, and after a discussion, decided to turn back, while recording their route. However, soon after they left the cave, the quakes began again, and more and more rocks collapsed. The party became fragmented, despite their best efforts to keep everyone together, and as people ran for their lives from fire, water, or rock, they were spread all across the ruins. Some of them realized that since they were expected to be in the area for several days, the outside world might not send rescue until it was too late. As the tremors ceased, most of the smaller groups, some trapped, all exhausted, found relatively safe areas and fell asleep. Their sleep was dreamless and light, however, and most groups organized night watches, in case the quakes returned. While a few groups managed to reach the chasm, the bridge they had used to come in was destroyed, so they were not able to leave. The groups wandered throughout the area, but the periodic tremors made it impossible to keep their bearings. This continued for three days, until finally a small joint scouting party found a new way across the chasm, and collected the entire group but three. One had fallen into the chasm, sadly, and the two others were simply missing. As the group promised to send a search party back to find them, they left the area, to report back with the news of the cave. However, when they passed the areas they had a few days ago, they realized that the situation had deteriorated dramatically. The walls of many kingdoms were cracked or broken in certain areas, whole sections had begun to give way, and small ravines were forming across the entire land. Eventually the group split up by kingdoms, and all returned to their dwellings, if they were intact. Finn and Jake made it home, and immediately assured their friends and family, at least all who they were able to reach, that they were alright. Having not had slept for longer than a few hours for three days, both Finn and Jake collapsed onto their beds, and slept very late. Over the next few days, the tremors seemed to pause, and at first, Finn, Jake and the other members of the party were eager to return to the Burning Lands with equipment to get into the cave, however, the plans for another expedition seemed to oddly stall. At first, they assumed that the kingdoms were just allowing the groups some rest, but, when after several days no word came, Finn became curious, and decided to contact the Slime Kingdom. They said that while it was true that they were allowing the party a rest, the reason that it had been more than a few days was that they hadn't received any word on the next meeting from the Candy Kingdom. At this, Finn decided that next logical step would be to contact the Candy Kingdom directly, but he only managed to reach the Banana Guards, who unhelpfully replied that "the royalty was not available at the moment". Discouraged, Finn almost set out to the Candy Kingdom himself, but before he could begin to get ready, Jake tapped his shoulder, saying that he had promised they'd all watch some old detective movies with BMO. Realizing, he had, he decided to delay his plans, and the three happily stayed up, eating popcorn and watching movies. By the time they were finished, it was very late, and they all went to sleep. The next day, Finn woke up with a sign at Jake's bed, saying that he had woke up early to hang out with Lady Rainicorn for the day. At first, Finn decided to go to the Candy Kingdom, but decided to wait for Jake. He made himself breakfast, and trained some with his sword. After making lunch, playing a few games on BMO, and playing his flute for a while, Jake finally came home. At first, everything seemed normal, but Finn noticed Jake had an odd look on his face. Not sad or mad, just concerned, perhaps. At first, he ignored it, but eventually his curiosity got the better of him.

"What's up, Jake?" he said, "You look concerned."

"Uhm… It's just something Lady told me. I'd tell you… but…" he replied, trailing off.

"But what?" Finn said.

"Well… you're not gonna like it. You sure?" Jake said.

"Yeah.", Finn replied.

"She says that the princess barely comes out of her castle, and when she does she's always muttering stuff… Something about destroying fire giants… Saying it's her fault… weird stuff like that." said Jake nonchalantly.

A horrified look fell over Finn's face.

"What is it?" said Jake.

"Fire Giants… her… destroyed? Oh glob." Finn mumbled, running upstairs.

"Finn, come back!" said Jake, to no avail.

After that, Finn locked himself in his room. Jake tried knocking, offering pancakes, all kinds of things, but nothing got him out. Jake could sometimes here incoherent screaming, and sometimes eerie quiet. Eventually Jake gave up, and slept. The next morning he woke, and Finn was still in his room. He tried to get him to come out to eat something, and got no response, however eventually he came out, and acted as if nothing had happened. He ignored Jake asking him about it, and Jake decided that it was just best to drop it; after all, he was back to normal. After an hour or two, Finn and Jake were upstairs playing a board game, and there was a knock at the door. Jake said he'd get it. He climbed down the ladder, and went up to the window. Outside, he could see Princess Bubblegum. 'Oh boy…' he thought to himself. He opened the door. She said she needed to see Finn urgently.

"Finn! It's PB. She wants to see you. I think it's important."

"Well I don't want to see her!" Finn said, rather obviously upset.

"Oh… He found out…" she said, sounding utterly defeated. "I'll just… go."

As she walked away, Jake swore he could see her wipe tears from her face.

'What the _heck_ is going on?!' Jake thought to himself, running upstairs.

"Alright, Finn. What in Ooo is happening?" he said.

"Well… I was just starting to accept that Flame Princess could be gone, and it wasn't anyone's fault, just bad luck, but when you told me that she said the Princess destroyed the fire giants, I realized what really happened. Flame Princess once told me about them. They were ancient automatons, capable of revitalizing the Earth's core. She said that without them, if it were to cool, the consequences would be disastrous. If Bubblegum destroyed them, she's the one who caused the earthquakes, and she's the one who destroyed the Flame Kingdom! It's all her fault!" Finn said, burying his head in a pillow.

He ran back upstairs. After a few hours, he came back down and went back to acting normal. That night, the tremors came back, shaking the tree violently. Eventually, Finn and Jake managed to get some sleep. They woke up the next morning to a shattering of glass, as Peppermint Butler crashed through a window, panting.

"Whoa! What the heck!" Finn screamed.

"Sorry! The door was closed, and you didn't hear me knock." said Peppermint Butler.

"Ooooookay. What do you want?" Finn said.

"Well… Ever since just after the tremors hit, our leader has been hiding in the upper rooms of her castle more and more and she won't let anyone in. At first we thought she was working on a plan… but she started to ignore the outside world more and more… which is why there hasn't been a second expedition. Anyway, when she does come out, she looks terrible, and is always sad. We've asked her what was happening and tried to cheer her up, but nothing helped. So when she said she was going out to see you, everyone was relieved. However, she came back worse than before. The Kingdom is destabilizing without her, and without one of her plans, it is unlikely anyone will be able to stop the tremors. I came to see just what happened when she came over here. I know it's none of my business, but we're rather desperate, and it's my duty to her to save her or the kingdom, whichever one first."

Finn sulked again, with a morose look on his face.

"I'd recognize that look on anyone, her or you. I beg of you, what is happening?" said Peppermint.

Finn didn't say a word. After a short but awkward silence, Jake said "Can you excuse us for a moment?" stretching himself and Finn into the kitchen.

"Finn," he said "this is really bad. This isn't even about you, or Flame Princess, or even Bubblegum. Everyone's lives could hang in the balance. You've—", but Jake was interrupted by a massive shake, causing the ceiling to collapse, and Peppermint Butler to fall through.

"Alright, ", Finn said, sadly. He explained essentially what he had said to Jake, and then said how he had responded when Princess Bubblegum wanted to see him.

"Oh dear." said Peppermint Butler "I can't blame you, though. I guess I'll go, then."

As he left, Jake said to Finn "So, what are you going to do, buddy?"

"Are you kidding?" Finn said. "I've got to go to the Candy Kingdom!"

"Wow." said Jake, not expecting that response. "Well, you'd better get ready then."

After quickly grabbing his backpack, they set off.

They arrived at the gates of the Candy Kingdom, where two banana guards were at the entrance.

"I need to see the princess immediately!" he said.

"Uh… she doesn't want any visitors." one of the guards said.

"I don't care! Just take me to wherever she is!" Finn yelled.

"Alright," they said, "but I'm telling you she doesn't want any visitors."

The Banana Guards took him up a winding staircase in a tower, where eventually they arrived at a single unmarked door. One of the guards sheepishly knocked at the door.

"Someone here insists on seeing you, Princess." he said.

A muffled reply came from behind the door: "I thought I told you no visitors!"

"See—", said one of the guards.

"It's me! Finn!" Finn shouted. "Please!"

"Wait!" came a reply. "Let him in."

Surprised, the guards opened the door.

"I'll let you handle this. You can meet me back at the treehouse." Jake said, somewhat awkwardly.

Finn walked into the room.

"Leave us." said the princess.

As soon as the door was closed, Princess Bubblegum said "You came back?"

"Yes.", said Finn, with a nervous smile. "I—"

However, before he could say anything, Bubblegum ran up and hugged him, lifting him into the air.

Putting him down, she said "I see you found out the truth. At first, I was just going to hide it, but I couldn't take the guilt. After fighting with myself for several days, I came to you. I wanted to tell you myself, but you must have figured it out. I'm so sorry…"

"It's… it's okay." said Finn "but, can you tell me what really happened?"

She explained how she had tricked Flame Princess into letting her find the Fire Giants, and how they were destroyed once she found out what was happening.

"She said I was a bad person. At the time I was convinced I wasn't, I was just protecting my kingdom. But even if I was… was it worth this? I might have killed so many innocent people…" she said, holding back tears.

Finn was astonished. As much as he knew what she had done was wrong, he couldn't help but question if in her position he would have done the same.

"This is all my fault! Am I a bad person? I didn't want to hurt anyone… but not only do I have so much blood on my hands, but I've caused such terrible pain to one of my dearest friends…", she said, sobbing.

"You consider me one of your dearest friends?" asked Finn, surprised.

"Of course." She said, lying down on a bed in the room.

"I don't know what I'll do…" she said, burying her head in the sheets.

Finn dashed over to her.

"You're not a bad person." he said. "I… I forgive you."

"Really?" she said.

"Really.", he said, impulsively hugging her.

Just as he realized and began to pull back, she accepted his embrace, and wrapped her arms around him, surprisingly.

"Oh Finn…" she said, "How can you forgive me when I can't forgive myself?"

"You're not a bad person. You were only trying to protect your own kingdom… you couldn't have known… You made a mistake, but to be honest, I would have probably done the same thing." Finn said, trying to comfort her.

"You would?" she said.

"Yeah, and the truth is you just made a mistake, and I know how it feels when you lose someone over a mistake… I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone." he said.

"That's… really sweet, Finn." she said, through tears.

"Heh, sweet." He said somewhat awkwardly, still hugging her tightly.

She was still crying, though it was mostly tears of happiness and relief. They remained together for a few more minutes before Finn piped up,

"Hey. Your people are very worried, the expedition is stalled, and we need one of your plans to stop the tremors. You've got a chance to make this right and help all the kingdoms."

She released Finn and got up, wiping her eyes.

"Thank you." She said, kissing Finn on the cheek, who blushed.

"You'd better get ready for the next expedition!" she then said, grinning, usual determination returning to her voice.

Finn walked out, closing the door behind him, to see Peppermint Butler walking down the hall.

"Ah," he said "I see you met with her? Did it go well?" he said.

"I think you'll have your leader back very soon." Finn replied.

"Thank gob! I don't know what you did, but I'm sure everyone will be very grateful." Peppermint Butler said.

"My pleasure." He said.

Peppermint Butler raised an eyebrow but quickly shrugged it off and Finn walked down the hall. Just then, Princess Bubblegum burst out of her room.

"You're back!" he said happily.

"Yup." she said. "Now help me organize another expedition into the Fire Kingdom. We can meet with the other kingdoms in a few hours."

Peppermint Butler grinned. "Right away, m'lady."

Just as he reached the gates of the Kingdom, he began to hear sounds of cheer and relief. Smiling, he headed back to the treehouse. Arriving at it, he opened the door, saying "The expedition is back on!"

"Whoa, really?" Jake asked, surprised. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you later." He said. "We should get ready for a meeting; PB said it wouldn't be long."

"Alright then," Said Jake.

A few hours later, a knock came at the door. A small candy person was outside.

"The meeting on the next expedition into the Fire Kingdom will begin in thirty minutes." he said.

"We'll be there!" Finn said.

After making a few preparations, Finn and Jake set out into the Badlands. When they arrived at the meeting, it was just about to begin. As the initial commotion died down, and Princess Bubblegum came up to the podium, several kingdoms posed the question of why it had been so long. Princess Bubblegum simply said that she had had personal business to attend to, but now they could continue. The others were not really satisfied with that answer, but the meeting moved on quickly. After a quick status update on the efforts that had not stalled, the royalty began to work out the details of the next expedition. It was decided that due to its criticality, it would be the following day. This time, however, the members of it would be provided with emergency supplies, and some more powerful explosives would be brought along. The trip to the Burning Lands the next day was quite similar to the earlier trip; however there was a more apparent goal this time. As the group reached the outskirts of the Burning Lands, they felt some small rumbles. Unfortunately, initially, a bridge could not be found across the chasm, however, a large rock was lodged about a quarter of the way down the chasm at one point, so the group had to climb down to it, and then back up on the other edge. The group explored a bit to find enough familiar landmarks to find the approximate location of the cave. When they reached its immediate area, they broke into four groups and searched for the entrance. After about an hour and a half, one of the groups located it. Quickly, the other groups came to the entrance, and walked into the cave. After a few sweltering hours, they reached the blockage, which had, unfortunately, not changed. They got out the explosives from their supplies and planted them, so as to collapse the wall. A timer was set, and the group ran a bit back up the cave for safety. A minute later, a large blast was heard, and a few rocks fell from the ceiling, but luckily it held well enough. The cave became smaller for a small while, until it opened up to a massive cavern, filled with red fog, obscuring the ceiling. Lava and fire could be seen around; however large rocks and other debris covered the area. A few artificial structures were scattered around the landscape, mostly notably an entrance into another cave. They continued through at least twenty caves, some in worse shape than others, ranging from just collapsed pillars of rock to large waterfalls and pools coming in from aboveground, creating large patches of obsidian sometimes. The number of ruins increased for a while, and the bodies of at least ten Fire Elementals were seen under rocks or in pools. Eventually, the group noticed a pile of rocks with a moving glow behind it, and, upon closer inspection, found several frightened Fire Elementals hiding in it. Though reluctant at first, the group eventually convinced them to at least try to bring them to the Flame Castle. The main passage to the area was blocked, but luckily, one of the Fire Elementals knew another route, directly into the castle. It was a small walk away, but it was at least intact. The castle appeared to be in quite bad shape, cracked or collapsed walls all over. Quite a few more Fire Elementals were found, some dead, some alive. Of the ones that remained, some elected to continue keeping shelter in their rooms, and others joined the party. As they journeyed towards the central chamber, the damage increased. Water was spouting from the walls, and it became increasingly difficult to navigate. Eventually, the group arrived at a large pool in the way, surrounded by rocks. The Fire Elementals had to stay behind, as they could obviously not swim, but the rest of the group began to climb through. After about ten of them had climbed through the rocks, another tremor hit, completely sealing of the path. Luckily, neither group was harmed other than a few bruises, and the one on the far side was still close enough to yell to the other one. They said that the central chamber was very close and that they'd be back soon. The other group agreed to wait while they went to it. The group found the corridor leading to the central room, however, the walls had collapsed and a small waterfall poured from a large crack in a wall, pooling into several rooms, and the lamp had fallen and shattered. Immediately, the group split into several parties, to search different parts of the chamber. As one of the groups lifted some rocks, a small cry was heard. Muffled by a pile of rocks, a voice came.

"Is anyone there?" it said. "We need help!"

To some of the candy people who joined the expedition, the voice sounded awfully familiar. As they lifted more rocks, they saw a cerulean blue glow through the cracks.

"Quickly! Get us out of here!" the voice insisted.

That's when the candy people realized who it was.

"Finn!" one of them shouted. "Come help us! We found Cinnamon Bun!"

Finn looked away from what he was doing, which was plugging a hole in the wall.

"Really? I'm coming!" he said, running over.

With Finn and Jake's help, the group made quick work of the remaining rocks, pulling out Cinnamon Bun and Randy, Flame Princesses' younger brother, who were both pinned under some rocks, but mostly unhurt. As soon as they were both back on their feet, Finn exclaimed "Where's the—", but before he could go on, Cinnamon Bun yelled "Quickly! The Princess is in danger! She was in that room over… there." He said, pointing to one of the room that was quickly filling with water, with a large rock blocking the entrance. "Oh no!" he said, panicked.

At this, Jake yelled at the top of his lungs. "Everyone! Come help us move this rock! The princess is trapped in this room!" Then a massive tremor shook the cavern, a scream was heard. One of the party members had been pinned under a pile of gravel. "I'm okay!" he said. With no time to lose, the rest of the party came over and lifted the now loosened rock. As soon as the rock was moved out of the way, the group, led by Finn, stepped carefully through a few inches of water. Quickly, Finn scanned the room. Other than the slowly rising water, the room was primarily the maroon-orange colored rock of the kingdom. About half of the room had completely collapsed into rocks of various sizes, rather precariously arranged. As Finn looked over the room, he saw a less rocky, dull blue shape at the bottom of one the rock piles, with water pooling around it.

"Oh grod…" he said, with a rather horrified look on his face.

He ran across the room to find what appeared to most others as wet hair, just outside of the massive pile of collapsed stone. He picked it up, hoping it wasn't what he knew it was, but this was only wishful thinking. It was indeed Flame Princess. By the look of the situation, it appeared that she'd either been pinned under the wall when it collapsed, then the water began to pool into the room, or vice versa. Regardless, she was unconscious, and almost completely out. Her hair was flopped over her face, and her clothing and skin was various shades of dull blue and green. Both of her Flame Rubies was cracked straight through the middle, as well. Finn yelled for help to pull her out of the rocks, and was quickly aided by several, including Cinnamon Bun, to lift up the rocks around her. Jake shifted into a stretcher, and Finn lifted her onto him. She was still warm to the touch, but only as much as tepid tap water, indicative of the criticality of her situation. Determining that they had to get her to some kind of medical facility as soon as possible, Cinnamon Bun suggested that he, Finn, Jake and a few others should go to the Candy Kingdom for help, while the others searched for more survivors. The group agreed, both in the interest of diplomacy and the common good. They backtracked up through the cave, dodging several smaller collapses. As they walked through the caverns, an eerie silence fell, interrupted only by the sounds of steaming lava or falling rock, and the occasional mumble from Flame Princess. Eventually they reached the original entrance they had found behind the blockage, but just after the old blockage, a new one had formed. They checked the nearby caves for alternate routes for about an hour before finding one that was not blocked within tens of meters. Although their new route was a bit longer than the old one, they eventually reached the surface. It took another small while to locate the bridge in the chasm they had come across, and another to find a different one, as it had collapsed. The moment they were back on relatively stable land, Jake became much larger, and headed towards the Candy Kingdom. As soon as they were within the damaged walls, they ran towards the hospital, whereupon, after a short chat with Doctor Princess about what happened, they were advised to wait outside. Eventually Jake became rather bored, and both to satisfy his own hunger and to simply raise the mood and spirits of the group, went to a nearby restaurant, to get some dinner. Right on cue, just as they had finished eating what was some kind of a candy soup, Peppermint Butler walked in, saying that their presence was requested in the hospital immediately. The group, as well as Peppermint Butler, quickly left the restaurant and rushed to the hospital. As they entered the main ward, they, other than Peppermint Butler of course, were surprised to find Princess Bubblegum staring intently at some notes on a desk, mumbling to herself. "Excuse us?" said Peppermint Butler, to get her attention.

"Ah, you're here." She said, with a concerned look on her face.

"I presume you'd all like to know her condition?" she said, motioning to Flame Princess, who appeared unchanged.

"Yes, please." The group said.

"Alright, the good news is, she could be worse. Usually, her rubies would protect her from being killed by water, as they should reignite her extinguished elemental matrix, and, without them she'd be dead instead of merely unconscious. However, in their damaged state, they couldn't prevent her matrix from being saturated with water, and can't reignite it fast enough to evaporate the water. In essence, it can't keep enough of her burning for consciousness. That's the bad news." she said.

"So why not just replace the rubies?" Finn and Jake both said.

"It's not that simple. I've never studied a Flame Ruby before, and I'd need to remove them to do so, but at the moment, they're all that are keeping her alive. She'd die within minutes if I removed them", she replied, sadly."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Finn said, lips quivering.

"Well… I have the ability to revive her for a few minutes, but it'll only work once or twice." she said.

Cinnamon Bun insisted he needed to talk to her, if Finn was alright with it, which he was.

"Alright…" She said "but you'll only have five or ten minutes, and she'll still be very weak."

She put a dropper into a small tube, and sucked out a golden, nearly sparkling liquid, and dropped it on Flame Princess, whose colors became more red and bright, and her skin heated.

Cinnamon Bun walked over to her, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Wha-", she said drowsily, "Cinnamon Bun? What happened? I remember the wall collapsing and the water spewing from the wall… Did you save me?"

"Well… not exactly. Finn helped, as well as the rest of the search party." He said.

"Wait, Finn?" she said. "Is he here?"

"Yes." He said.

"Bring him here. I want to see him." She said.

"Finn!" Cinnamon Bun yelled. "Come over here!"

Finn walked over to see that some of her flame had come back.

"Finn!" she said with a smile, "Thank you."

She tried to pull herself up to hug him, but barely got a few inches up before falling back down. Instead he awkwardly bent himself to hug her. One advantage to the situation was that she was still not hot enough to burn him, just fairly warm.

"Oh Finn…" she said, wrapping her arms around him, "Am I going to be okay?"

Finn didn't know it, but behind him Bubblegum smiled.

"Yeah." He said, "It's under control…"

He knew this wasn't entirely true, but he did not have the heart to tell her true condition.

"You're going to fall back asleep in a minute." He said, "…but don't worry. It's just temporary."

She held him tighter for a moment, but then her grasp weakened. She mumbled something, but other than his name, Finn could not make anything out. He walked back, a little saddened, but with a hopeful look on his face.

"She passed out again." He said, glancing back at her. She was already a reddish-purple.

"She'll be okay." said Jake, putting his arm around Finn.

"There must be some way we can help her…" Finn said, visibly upset.

"Well…" Princess Bubblegum said, "I can try and figure out a treatment, but there's so little information on the biology of her species… even what I know now is mostly guesswork. At the same time, I also need to find some way to stop these—"

The room shook violently, and small chunks fell from the ceiling.

"—quakes." She said, exasperated.

"Well... The lives of many more depend on you stopping those quakes, so that has to come first. However, I would really appreciate it if you could try and save her.", Finn said.

"That's very mature of you." she said "I do have some good news. I can put her in 'pyrostasis', as I call it. It will keep her hot enough so that her body doesn't shut down, but it can't last forever. Even like this, she needs energy to stay alive, and if we can't wake her within a month she could, in a way, starve."

"That sounds like a pretty good option to me." Said Jake, "What do you guys think?"

Cinnamon Bun and Finn nodded in agreement.

"Alright…" Bubblegum said, opening a panel in the wall, revealing an orange glow from a fire somewhere below it.

"Why do you have that?" Jake asked, confused. "Did you make it for Flame Princess?"

"Well… technically it's an incinerator, but it's perfect for what we need." She said.

"This still doesn't explain why you have a huge incinerator in a hospital…" said Jake.

"Not important." She said quickly, "I'll go get a heat-resistant suit on and put her in there. You three should get home. It's quite late."

They hadn't realized, but night was indeed beginning to fall. Tired, Finn and Jake made their way to the treehouse. As they walked, Jake attempted to comfort Finn, who wasn't hiding his worry as well as he thought. When they arrived home, they were far too tired, both physically and mentally to think on any of the day's events, and perhaps this was for the best. They climbed into bed, but it was short lived, for the tremors returned halfway through the night, shaking the treehouse. It held fairly well, but it was impossible to sleep with the quake. The quakes shook the land incessantly for several hours. When they finally stopped, dawn was beginning. This, however, did not stop Finn and Jake and likely most others in Ooo from sleeping when they could. Eventually they had slept for a reasonable time and got up. Then sun was about a third of the way across the sky already. They went outside to inspect their tree, which was indeed significantly worse for wear than before. Though they didn't know it yet, Finn and Jake had been lucky, as they were in one of the most unaffected regions of the last night. They spent an hour or two repairing what they could in the treehouse, before they were requested at yet another meeting. At this point, they were so used to it that it was hardly fifteen minutes before they were out the door and on their way. In the hall where the meeting was being held, they noticed a disturbing fact. Far less royalty and representatives had attended, and something told them it was not because they simply didn't want to. Most of the representatives only brought news of massive damage and destruction throughout their kingdoms. When it was Princess Bubblegum's turn, she came up to the stand with a rather somber look. At first she said much the same as the rest, but as it appeared she was finished, she took a breath, and proclaimed that knew the source of the tremors. This, unsurprisingly, very much sparked the interest of the room. "In fact, I've known for quite a while." She said, "I've been hiding it from you."

A gasp spread throughout the room.

"It was I who caused it, in a way. About a month ago I learned of ancient devices called The Fire Giants…"

She explained how she had used Ice King to cool the Flame Kingdom's magma, and trick Flame Princess into giving her access to the giants, and the battle that ensued, leaving out the more 'personal' details. Furthermore, she revealed that shortly after the tremors began, she discovered that the giants actually served a much larger role: Keeping the core of the planet stable. The room fell silent for a full minute, to her dismay. A cough was heard, and suddenly the room burst into a mixture of outrage and confusion. Though she knew it would take far more than a simple apology to make up for her misdeeds, she still decided to try. Eventually, the room quieted, and Grid-faced Princess stepped up, saying, rather angrily, "Whether you regret what you did or not, the true question remains. Do you have a plan? Can you make up for your folly by setting it right? Or will you continue to chatter for several more minutes ineffectually."

"Well…" Bubblegum said, "Normally I would just try and recreate the giants with all the data I gathered on them… but inside of each fire giants there is a complex but dormant energy pattern, which I believe to be a soul. Although I've been able to simulate a simple one before, it won't do for this purpose. I don't know enough about the fire elementals' elemental matrices to reproduce one accurately enough. According to my calculations, we need at least six giants to stabilize the core, and, therefore, six souls of powerful Fire Elementals."

"What about the Flame Princess?" several asked.

"Even if she was in any kind of a state to help, she'd be sacrificing herself to eternal slumber within the giants, and even then we'd have only one more." She said, knowing it was not what anyone wanted to hear.

The room was filled with conversations, but no one was able to come up with any solutions. Princess Bubblegum swore to find a way to save Ooo, and for now, since their only hope rested on her, all the other kingdoms had to trust her. The rest of the meeting continued as expected, though an aura of despair was obviously present. After a few more representatives spoke, the meeting ended, and all left the meeting upset, for various reasons, but none so obviously as Bubblegum herself. Finn and Jake made their way back to the treehouse, and, short of a few smaller tremors, the rest of the day went uneventfully and without incident. There was no meeting the next day, so they spent it as normally as they could. In the afternoon, there was a knock at their door, and, through some unknown means, a letter had been placed outside it. Finn picked it up, and read it aloud:

"Finn and Jake," it read, "I have determined that the only way to create more fire giants requires creation of simulations of souls. The only way I can gain enough knowledge to create the type of soul required for this is to research an example. I'm sure you know who I mean by that. I'd have to perform a battery of tests on her, and I can't guarantee that they'd be 'enjoyable', to say the least, and unfortunately she must be awake for them. However, I've caused her enough pain already, and I won't do anything without her consent. I'd like to make it clear that I have no other options. I'm going to wake her up temporarily, and ask her if she's willing. I'm sure you'd like to be here for it, and I would more than appreciate it if you could perhaps try to convince her to help. I will await your arrival. Signed, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum."

It was obvious that they had to come, and they did. Upon arrival, they were immediately taken to the hospital. Cinnamon Bun had been invited as well, unsurprisingly. After a short discussion with the Princess, she removed Flame Princess from the incinerator, and placed her upon a bed.

"Okay," she said "I'm going to wake her, and explain the gravity of the situation. After that, you can talk to her."

Using the same golden substance as before, she woke her up. At first, she was disoriented, and took a moment to understand how long she'd been out. After that, Princess Bubblegum explained what she needed her for, and why, as well as one other fact that Finn had not been told: She had the ability to keep her awake for a more extended period of time with the golden fluid, but that after she'd used it, Flame Princess would become completely resistant to it, and they would not be able to wake her up again. Though she probably did not fully comprehend the exact process, she was evidently awake enough to respond. She opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Princess Bubblegum, saying "Before you make any decisions, Finn and Cinnamon Bun are here to see you. You should talk to them."

She motioned for them to come over, and they did. She walked a few paces away, so as not to impose.

"I don't know," Flame Princess said, "Normally I'd do it in a heartbeat, considering the stakes involved, but can I trust her?" Both Finn and Cinnamon Bun said that while it was true that she was not always the most trustworthy individual, they believed her intentions to be genuine, but that they would still be cautious in her position. She considered this for a minute or two, before saying "Alright. Let me talk to her."

Cinnamon Bun said that Flame Princess had come to a decision, and Bubblegum walked over.

"I'll do it…" Flame Princess said, "On one condition: These two can be there with me."

Princess Bubblegum contemplated this for a moment, and said "Well, It's not ideal, but I'll allow it, so as long as you two put on some special suits, so that you don't interfere with the more sensitive instruments. Other than that, so as long as you don't physically get in the way of the equipment, it should be fine."

Finn and Cinnamon Bun obviously agreed to this, and Princess Bubblegum said they could begin as soon as she prepared the suits for them, which only took about thirty minutes, though Flame Princess had fallen back unconscious nearly immediately after the conversation. When they were ready, the Princess brought them down to a large chamber, and brought Finn, Jake, and Cinnamon Bun into a windowed subchamber, where Flame Princess was awoken and placed on a metal table. Once they agreed to begin the tests, Finn gave a thumbs-up to the control window, and the machinery came to life. Flame Princess closed her eyes tightly, and Finn and Cinnamon Bun held her hands. At first, the tests were relatively passive, large sensors presumably scanning her, which progressed to flashing images on a screen above her and monitoring her response with some device on her chest, to dropping chemical stimuli onto her, some of which rather obviously hurt greatly, and each time they were dropped she tensed and began breathing harder, occasionally whimpering. Sometimes they would wave to Bubblegum, indicating to her to pause the tests for a minute, to let Flame Princess recover herself a bit. After what seemed like an eternity, the tests were finally over, and Flame Princess wearily opened her eyes. "I'm… tired…" she said, flames beginning to dull. Quickly, Finn reassured her that they'd find a way to save her, and she said that she knew they would. Just before she fell completely unconscious, she hugged both of them tightly. Her grasp remained strong for a moment, but then failed as her heat dissipated. Saddened, Finn and Jake indicated to the Princess that they were done. She came down and released Flame Princess, and brought her back to the incinerator.

"I'll need several days to analyze the information I've gained. I only hope it's enough." She said with a sigh. As it was getting late again, Finn and Jake went home to the treehouse. Three days passed without any word from the Candy Kingdom, on Flame Princess or the quakes, and the tremors worsened throughout them. All anyone in Ooo could do was wait and hope. Finally, on the fourth day, a meeting was called. A few kingdoms had been outright destroyed, and all others, including the Candy Kingdom had suffered major damage. After the remaining representative had all shared similar stories of destruction and loss, Princess Bubblegum came up. She looked exhausted, with her hair in disarray, and eyes glazed over. First, she apologized for her own state, explaining that she had been awake for the last three days constructing six fire giants, and souls for them, with help of course. These was met with great applause and rejoice from all at the meeting, and she said that she planned to deploy them into a deep cavern in the Fire Kingdom the next day, which would restore the balance in the planet's core and stop the tremors. She also explained that they'd need a significant amount of help, as the giants were far too heavy to carry, but they could be disassembled into smaller parts to be carried, and then reassembled at the destination. With this, the kingdoms began organizing the final expedition into the Fire Kingdom. It ended up as a scaled-up version of the previous expeditions, with Finn and Jake leading as usual. The main difference was that several Princesses and other royalty would personally come to see the installation of the giants, including Princess Bubblegum, who arranged a time that they could all meet at the outskirts of the Burning Lands, where she would distribute the map to the cavern to the rest of the group. After the finer details were worked out, all the representatives left to rest for the next day's journey and to tell their kingdoms the news. The next day, Finn and Jake woke up early, and set off for the Burning Lands. About thirty minutes after they reached the rendezvous, all the groups had arrived. With the delegation from the Candy Kingdom came a massive cargo vehicle containing all the parts for the Fire Giants, which were distributed among the kingdoms. Once the maps had also been distributed, the group set off into the lands. This proceeded mostly the same as previously, with two key differences, one being that it was even more exhausting for many, including Finn and Jake, as they had to carry massive metal objects, and the second being that despite this, spirits were much higher than before. After at least four hours of locating and then traversing the cave, the group finally arrived in the Fire Kingdom. Several more hours passed as the group follow the map downwards. Even through their flame shields, the heat was beginning to become unbearable by the time they arrived at the cave where the giants had to be constructed. The group's desire to leave became fuel for its determination, and they made surprisingly quick work of the giants, setting them up in just under two hours. The moment they were activated, the cavern shook violently and heated up even more. After making sure that the giants were functioning properly, and establishing a wireless connection to them for tracking, the group left the cave, and made their way back to the surface as fast as possible. The moment they had left the lands of flame and red rock, an incredibly powerful earthquake shook the land, twice as powerful as anything before. Worried, Princess Bubblegum checked the status of the giants, and reassured the group that they were fine, and this was the last tremor that there would be, and she was right for the time being. It had been nearly fourteen hours since they entered the Fire Kingdom, and the giants were still functioning, and not a single tremor had occurred since the final large one. Eventually the group split up and all travelled back to their homes or kingdoms. Exhausted by the journey, the moment they could, Finn and Jake jumped into bed, and slept for many hours, just past noon of the next day. There were no tremors during their sleep, and they had no reason to believe there would be any more. Yet again, they were called to meeting, but it was significantly more informal this time, and held in the Candy Kingdom. As they approached, they truly noticed the damage that had been dealt to Ooo's infrastructure, but at the same time they also noticed the massive repair efforts in progress. Candy citizens were rebuilding the walls and clearing debris across the kingdom. A few other representatives came including a representative of the rescued Fire Elementals to the meeting, who had been granted refuge in the Candy Kingdom, which was primarily just a recap of the expedition, and more organization of repair efforts, especially towards the Fire Kingdom. When the meeting ended, all but Princess Bubblegum and Finn and Jake remained, as the representative left for their own kingdoms. While Princess Bubblegum had regained some of the trust she lost previously, she knew it would be several years before diplomatic relations would be what they were before, especially with the Fire Kingdom. She was about to leave for her lab, but Finn and Jake walked up to her and asked if she had any luck with saving Flame Princess. She just sadly shook her head no, but assured Finn that she would keep trying and researching some way to save her. He just looked away and responded "I know." He then left for the treehouse.

**NOTE: (I'm leaving Flame Princess' fate ambiguous intentionally.)**


End file.
